Do you ever wonder if your platform still meets what employees really need? A good intranet grows with the organization and the people who work with it. That's why it's smart to check in from time to time: how is the intranet used, what are employees missing and what could be better?
We spoke to Femke from the Princess Máxima Center, who did an employee survey to find out exactly that. What did they learn and how can you approach this too?
Approach
Prior to the research, it is important that you are clear about what the goal is. What is the problem and what do we want to get out of the survey? After you have clearly defined the goal, you will notice that it is also easier to set up the questionnaire.
The Princess Máxima Center platform, called “Join”, had been in use for two years now. Femke and her colleagues only noticed that it wasn't being used by everyone yet and that there was much more to get out of the intranet. With that idea, they asked the following questions:
Timeline is a plethora of information
One of the biggest stumbling blocks was the amount of information. “We saw that many colleagues were ignoring Join because the timelines were full of information that wasn't always relevant,” it said. Many employees took a quick look at Join in the morning, but found it difficult to filter out the most important updates.
One of the first changes was to set up different types of groups. This way, the right information is in the right place and the timeline matches the employee's preferences. For example, the Princess Máxima Center created a separate “Events & Activities” group. As a result, the general timeline became less of a receptacle. “That made a huge difference; Join immediately became clearer.”
In addition, the 'Join Monthly' was introduced, a weekly or monthly newsletter to which the Princess Máxima Center gave a fun twist! Instead of the Communications Department determining the most important updates, they asked colleagues: “What did you remember most about Join this month?” This not only provided funny and surprising answers, but also provided a natural selection of what was really going on within the organization.
New functionalities
The Princess Máxima Center is certainly not the only organization that faces an overcrowded and unclear timeline. “An abundance of information” is something we often hear from customers. That's why we've built features into our platform that help reduce noise and make the most relevant messages more visible.
With Embrace, for example, you can mark messages as “important.” Employees who activate the “Focus filter” will then only see these priority messages. This way, the timeline remains clear and important information is not overlooked.
We also motivate the use of groups, but this does not happen automatically in every organization. We, Embrace, recommend actively sending employees to the right group. With Embrace, you can easily forward a message to another group. In addition, with Embrace, you can choose to 'unfollow' a group. This way, you can maintain access to the information in the group without flooding your timeline.
Personal stories
The feedback they received partly confirmed their suspicions, but also brought new insights. For example, there appeared to be a great lack of personal stories. That is why, among other things, the “Máxima Meet” group was created. In this group, a short personal story from a colleague is shared every week. “Now, for example, we have World Children's Cancer Day, and instead of a story from our own colleague, we share one from an employee from a hospital in Suriname. People really like that.”
One of the most creative ideas that came out of the study was the 'Join Joker'. “We do notice that colleagues really want a spot in the news bar.” Instead of having to say no very often, they came up with the 'Join Joker'.
This concept works like a relay baton. An employee gets the Joker and can use it to share something on the intranet—a fun article, a special project, or just something he or she cares about. After that, the Joker has passed on to another colleague.
“We're curious what that will do,” he said enthusiastically. “It gives colleagues more control and makes the intranet less one-way traffic.” The Communication Department will continue to watch, but this will give employees more influence over the content they find important.
Conclusion
A social intranet is never 'finished' and it doesn't have to be. By regularly listening to users and making small, targeted improvements, it remains relevant, attractive and, above all, innovative!
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